Common Fire

People who commit themselves to working for social betterment, institutional reform, environmental protection or ethical business practices are the focus of this inspirational study. The authors conducted interviews over several years, tracking more than 100 individuals, among them a coordinator of relief efforts in Rwanda, a director of a regional health-planning agency for a low-income community, an educator who runs workshops on the global future, an environmental engineer devoted to cleaning up hazardous dumps using waste-eating microorganisms, and the founder of an independent news agency. Key personality factors in the interviewees, we are told, were empathic bonds with others, critical thinking and awareness of complexity, connectedness and the relativity of cultural norms. In a majority of the respondents, religion played a formative role in the forging of commitment. Regrettably, all individuals' names and many identifying characteristics were changed to preserve anonymity. Though this earnest study founders on fuzzy generalizations, it will serve as a potent antidote to inertia and resignation for those seeking a vocational path or calling. Daloz is associate professor of adult education at Lesley College in Massachusetts; the Keens are academic deans at Antioch; Parks is a senior research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. All rights: Beacon Press. (June)